The Mondo Esoterica Guide to:

Peter Cushing

About Peter Cushing:

Born 26th May 1913 in Surrey,
Peter Cushing considered himself film-bound from a very young age. After
some early theatrical sucesses he travelled to Hollywood in 1939 and
was quickly playing bit parts, including A Chump at
Oxford
(1940) alongside Laurel and Hardy, before returning to England in 1942.
A series of radio plays for the BBC were followed by his return to
cinema in Laurence Olivier's Hamlet (1948) as Osric. Cushing worked
in television almost exclusively for the next few years, a highlight
being his leading role in the BBC's 1984 (1954). Despite his popularity
on television, he was still almost unknown outside of England, this was
to change in 1956 when he was hired by Hammer
Films for the
lead role in Curse of Frankenstein (1957). Teamed onscreen for the
first time with his future partner-in-horror Christopher
Lee, the film
was a massive global sucess, far above anything Hammer had anticipated. The studio
acted quickly to take advantage of their new star and Cushing was cast
alongside Lee another three times in sucession with Dracula (1958), The Mummy(1959) and Hound of the
Baskervilles
(1959) and he played his Frankenstein and Van Helsing characters again
in Revenge of Frankenstein (1958) and Brides of
Dracula
(1960). He shot a few more non-horror films for Hammer, including the
titular role in Captain Clegg (1962), before he chose to
retire from the horror scene and move into other acting fields.

However, British cinema and
television was experiencing a slump, and Cushing was able to find only
limited work and ended up returning to Hammer to star in sub-par sequel Evil of Frankenstein (1964) and was re-united with Terence
Fisher and Christopher
Lee for The Gorgon (1964) and with Lee again in fantasy epic She (1965). Cushing's continuing
position as master of horror led to him being poached by Hammer's rival British Horror producers AmicusFilms. After appearing in their first
of many portmanteau films, Dr. Terror's
House of Horrors
(1965) Cushing went on to play Doctor Who in Dr. Who and
the Daleks
(1965), the film
adaptation of the second story from the popular TV serial, he appeared again in the sequel, Daleks'
Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. (1966) before appearing in
another portmanteau production for the studio - Torture
Garden
(1967). A double bill of independent horror films; Island of
Terror
(1966) and Night of the
Big Heat
(1967) preceeded Cushing's return to Hammer in the less than impressive Frankenstein Created Woman (1967).

Although it was clear by the
mid-1960s that 'Peter Cushing' would be a name permanently synonymous
with horror, with his wife's unfortunate and disabling illness, Cushing
was forced to accept every role that came his way. Despite his global
fame, and unlike co-star Christopher Lee, he was unable to travel outside
the country to make films. More poor quality horror films for Amicus
and Tigon pictures followed, broken up by a run as Sherlock Holmes on
the BBC, and Hammer's impressive Frankenstein Must be Destroyed (1969). Hammer answered the exploitation era
with a series of sexy vampire films, and cast Cushing in The Vampire
Lovers
(1970) and Twins of Evil (1971). Van Helsing came back
in Hammer's final two Dracula films and
unsucessful Oriental/Vampire fusion Legend of
the Seven Golden Vampires (1974) while Baron Frankenstein
gave his last outing in Frankenstein and the Monster
from Hell
(1974), just two years later the studio ceased film production, and
Amicus would follow the next year. With less work in Britain, Cushing
now sadly a widower, ended up travelling around, with shoots in Greece
on Land of the
Minotaur
(1976) and in America on the Nazi-Zombie film Shock Waves (1977), however his next role,
although short, was to be the most remembered of his career - under
George Lucas he played Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars (1977). Despite this renewal of
his global fame, the aged Cushing was offered little work. He played a
sinister shop keeper in The Silent
Scream - an
episode of the Hammer House
of Horror
(1980) TV series, and starred alongside Christopher
Lee and
Vincent Price in House of
Long Shadows
(1983) before officially retiring in June 1987. Although continuing to
do some light television work, Peter developed prostate cancer and died
on 11th August 1994 in Canterbury.

Peter Cushing will probably
never be as well known as long time friend Christopher
Lee,
his wife's unfortunate illness and his impressive devotion to her care
limited him to British films, and throughout the 1960s and 70s, this
meant low budget horror. Despite this, Cushing rarely gave a bad
performance, and put effort into even the worst films he appeared in,
many directors amazed by his attention to detail for his roles.
For Curse of Frankenstein (1957) he briefly studied
anatomy, and for Captain Clegg (1962) he took lessons from a
Vicar on reading a marriage ceremony correctly. Apart from his short,
but key and even scene stealing role in Star Wars (1977), Cushing is likely to
remain known only to cult cinema fans, but his distinctive performances
that lift so many films are likely to remain cult favourites for as
long as people can watch them.